Creating my player in Madden NFL 13, I was startled and confused by the new helmet options. There was the Riddell TK, and the Wilson F2000. Neither had a facemask. You could put a modern-day visor on them, in clear plastic, smoke or dark, but still there was nothing standing between Brian Urlacher's forearm and your kisser.

Was this some kind of helmet from a future with no concussions?

No. The Riddell TK and Wilson F2000 were old school lids, the kind worn by the likes of Otto Graham in the 1940s and 1950s, who appears in Madden NFL 13 as a playable legend in Madden Ultimate Team, unlockable in "Connected Careers" and as a member of the "Canton Greats" in play-now mode. To make Graham appear authentic, Madden's designers had to give him his actual headgear, which means they had to make it available to everyone in the game.

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You can, in fact, give the TK or the F2000 a single-bar or twin-bar grill, but if you're truly hardcore, you go out on the gridiron au naturel. The helmet-editing option is available if you're playing a single player in "Connected Careers." You may also edit any player's equipment in your offline roster. If you're going to do an entire team, be prepared to spend an hour, as there are at least 70 players on the roster and you can't batch-edit them. In this video above, I gave the Detroit Lions the Riddell TK without facemasks, and the Pittsburgh Steelers the Wilson F2000 and squared them off at Heinz Field. You can see the highlights above.